Which to use
“référé” and “refuge” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #22,408
- “référé” frequency rank
- #5,392
- “refuge” frequency rank
- 27800
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | référé | refuge |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Recours au juge qui, dans les cas d’urgence, prend une décision provisoire. | Asile ; retraite ; lieu où l’on cherche un abri. |
Where the eye mixes référé and refuge
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. référé and refuge follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: référé vs refuge
A purely visual mix-up. référé (\ʁe.fe.ʁe\) and refuge (\ʁə.fyʒ\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 4 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27800, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
référé is recorded at frequency rank #22,408, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʁe.fe.ʁe\. refuge is at rank #5,392, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʁə.fyʒ\.
Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.
With a confusion score of 27800, this pair ranks #326,676 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of référé vs refuge
Shared letters: fr. Private to "référé": é. Private to "refuge": egu.
"référé" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV · "refuge" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- refuge ← erfuge · reffuge · refgue · refueg · refugge · reufge · rfeuge · rrefuge
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "référé" and "refuge" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "référé" or "refuge"?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "référé" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "refuge" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #326,676 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "référé" and "refuge" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "référé vs refermée". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #326,676 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.